Was just looking through some pics...

[JustinReef]

...and found some pics of a few puffers I took on a dive Sept. 2007 at the Great Barrier Reef. Thought people might like to see a few of the giant puffers we saw!

Hard to tell in the pic but that dogface was very big. It made me realize my tank would be very small for my puffers one day or that they would never grow to their full potential

I will find more pics and post them soon.

 

[JustinReef]

These guys were very cool and very curious...

 

[JustinReef]

 

[JustinReef]

Thats all I have on my work computer but I will get more from home later.

 

[JustinReef]

Found one more

These guys scared me so badly I almost had to get out of the water. We had been told they were in the area, can kill you with a single bite in a matter of minutes but are safe if you just stay calm...what they did not tell us was that they are curious and like to explore you, which includes wrapping around your body. I was shaking.

 

[reefergeorge]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12639924#post12639924 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by justinpsmith
Found one more

These guys scared me so badly I almost had to get out of the water. We had been told they were in the area, can kill you with a single bite in a matter of minutes but are safe if you just stay calm...what they did not tell us was that they are curious and like to explore you, which includes wrapping around your body. I was shaking.

Yeah. Stay calm while a deadly animal is wrapped around you??? Easier said than done.
Do you recall how large the dogface was?
Great pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12639978#post12639978 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefergeorge
Yeah. Stay calm while a deadly animal is wrapped around you??? Easier said than done.
Do you recall how large the dogface was?
Great pics. Thanks for sharing.

Exactly...our guide was so relaxed about it and came to help me when it wrapped around my leg and proceeded to make its way up my body. After the dive he was like "you seemed a bit scared?"...uh yeah just slightly. LOL.

The dogface was just over a foot but it was the width that amazed me. It was so fat. The area I saw him in was filled with crabs, shrimp, clams, ect. They were eating the small clams but wouldn't go near the big ones.

 

[JustinReef]

The cuddlefish were sooooo cool. They just kind of fluttered around us and kept a distance but would once in a while touch your hand if you put it out and held really still. They kind of followed us as we drifted along until we passed all the way by the rock we found them in. I think it was their home and they were not ready to follow us away from it.

 

[LisaD]

what an amazing trip! those are great pictures. thanks for sharing!

 

[J4Life]

Great pictures. What kind of camera were you using and were was the location they were taken in. The sea snakes were cool but I wouldn't have been happy with it wrapping around me either.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mark0818]

Awesome pics..... I would love to go their....I'm REAL jealous!!!! Thanks for sharing

 

[J4Life]

Sorry I am a village idiot. I see you said it was the "Great Barrier Reef" I completely missed that.

Still would like to know what type of camera gear you were using.

Thanks

 

[JustinReef]

Cannon Powershot G7

Forget the name of the casing though. I will check.

 

[LisaD]

I've been reading Craig Venter's memoir, "A Life Decoded".

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/12/05/craig_venter/

He was the first to sequence the human genome. He writes about body surfing in the ocean when he was stationed in Vietnam during the war, and having a sea snake wrap around him. He was afraid it would bite him, so he grabbed onto it and choked it to death. There is a picture in the book of him holding it. He skinned it and has the skin in his office. Pretty cool story, meshes in with justin's experience on the Barrier Reef.

 

[Jerry W]

Great pics. Looking at the size of some of those fish, there's little to justify keeping them in captivity.
As for the sea snake..I'd a crapped myself!

 

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12642319#post12642319 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LisaD
I've been reading Craig Venter's memoir, "A Life Decoded".

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/12/05/craig_venter/

He was the first to sequence the human genome. He writes about body surfing in the ocean when he was stationed in Vietnam during the war, and having a sea snake wrap around him. He was afraid it would bite him, so he grabbed onto it and choked it to death. There is a picture in the book of him holding it. He skinned it and has the skin in his office. Pretty cool story, meshes in with justin's experience on the Barrier Reef.

Very cool! The locals are so used to them and say you have to be really stupid or really unlucky to have one bite you because although they are one of the most deadly creatures in the ocean, they are not that aggressive at all. Just very curious and unafraid of anything...I guess they know nothing will mess with them. The guide told us we would most likely see them in big groups of like 20-30 but that they would most likely just pass by. We encountered one and it liked me apparently.

 

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12642340#post12642340 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jerry W
Great pics. Looking at the size of some of those fish, there's little to justify keeping them in captivity.
As for the sea snake..I'd a crapped myself!

Oh you have no idea. Well maybe you do!

But after diving there and seeing the size of the fish, I came back and actually felt so terrible for my fish. Im kind of over it now but I have never owned a tang since. I am by no means the "tang police" and would not tell people not to own them unless of course the tank is way too small but seeing them in the ocean has really made it impossible for me to justify one in my tank. I realized on that trip that captive fish in general but especially tangs look soooooo depressed. Tangs just look so nervous in tanks but so graceful and elegant in the ocean.

 

[J4Life]

Canon makes some really good point and shoot cameras and that is pretty obvious based on your pictures.

Thanks again for sharing.

 

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12643306#post12643306 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by J4Life
Canon makes some really good point and shoot cameras and that is pretty obvious based on your pictures.

Thanks again for sharing.

Yeah they really are nice little cameras for the price. Unfortunately while diving, I was so amazed by everything I was seeing that I took less pics than I would have liked. I will find more this weekend though and post them.

I was only going to post pics of fish here but I can't resist posting a few clams because they were enormous!!!

 

[JustinReef]

The first picture of the porcupine puffers is still one of my favs even though the color didn't turn out that well.

The porc that is in the distance was HUGE. They both were but that first one was just massive and fat. It was about 20" long and about 7" wide, I would say. These two were actually different species but were swimming together the whole time. It was really cool.